Pneumatic apparatus for individually separating flat items



Oct. 18, 1966 HfFLlEGNER ETAL 3,279,786

PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR INDIVIDUALLY SEPARATING FLAT ITEMS Filed June16, 1964 AIR INVENTORS HORST FL/E GI E/Q WER IVER H/NZ ATTORNEY UnitedStates Patent 3,279,786 PNEUMATIC APPARATUS FOR INDIVIDUALLY SEPARATINGFLAT ITEMS Horst Fliegner and Werner Hinz, Berlin, Germany, as-

signors to International Standard Electric Corporation, New York, N.Y.,a corporation of Delaware Filed July 16, 1964, Ser. No. 375,556 Claimspriority, application Germany, June 24, 1963, St 20,767 9 Claims. (Cl.271-12) This invention relates to apparatus for individually pullingflat items off a pile of such items, and, more particularly, toapparatus for individually pulling flat items off a pile of such itemsat a rate which is determined by the lengths of the items themselves.

In many article sorting systems (such as mail sorting systems) meansmust be provided for feeding fiat items from a pile of such items to aconveyor for subsequent processing. Present feeding means suffer fromvarious disadvantages. Most feeding apparatus pull the articles off thestack at a predetermined rate. Systems utilizing this apparatus workvery well if the articles have a uniform length, however, if thearticles are not uniform in length, the pull-off rate must be such thatit will be appropriate for the longest article. Therefore, when shorterarticles are pulled off, there is a large distance between adjacentarticles.

Some systems utilize complex photoelectric arrangements or sensingarrangements to sense the trailing edge of conveyed items so that asecond document can be conveyed a predetermined distance behind thetrailing edge of a first document. Apparatus for accomplishing this hasheretofore been complex and expensive.

It is therefore an object of this invention to provide improvedapparatus for individually pulling flat items ofl? a stack of suchitems.

It is another object of this invention to provide apparatus forindividually pulling flat articles off a stack of such articles at arate which is dependent on the lengths of the articles themselves andwhich is of a simple and inexpensive construction.

A feature of our invention is the provision of apparatus forindividually pulling fiat items olf a stack of such items comprisingsuction means for effecting a pull-off of the items wherein the suctionsupplied to the suction means is interrupted by the conveyed articlesthemselves.

The above-mentioned and other features and objects of this inventionwill become more apparent by reference to the following descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which there isshown a schematic view of article-feeding apparatus in accordance withour invention.

Guide 1, in the view of the drawing, guides the first article 2 of astack 3 of flat articles to a predetermined position with respect tosuction nozzles 4a positioned along side 4 of chamber 5. Perforated belt6 is led past and between suction nozzles 4a and leading article 2 to aconveying system 7 via idler pulley 8 and driver pulley 9. Conveyingchannel 7 is formed by a portion of belt 6 in cooperation with anotherperforated belt 10.

Suction nozzles 41: are connected to a source of suction air viaflexible tube 11 which is disposed below channel 7 and connects chamberto a chamber 12. Chamber 12 has suction nozzles 13:: along side 13, incooperative relationship with suction nozzles 14a disposed along side 14of a chamber 15. Tube 16 connects chamber to a source of suction air 17.Arrows 24 indicate the flow of air from nozzles 4a to source 17. Theflow of air through nozzles 4a passes via chamber 5 and tube 11 intochamber 12, from chamber 12 via cooperative nozzles 13a and 3,279,786Patented Oct. 18, 1966 nozzles 14a to chamber 15, and thence via tube 16back to the source of suction air 17.

Rollers 18 and 19, around which belt 10 is disposed, are pivotallymounted via brackets 20 and 21, respectively, for movement towards andaway from the conveying channel. Brackets 20 and 21 are spring urged(not shown) so that belt 10 is urged against belt 6. It is important tonote that the distance between suction nozzles 4a and suction nozzles14a is less than the length of the shortest article 22 to be handled bythe system.

The operation of our apparatus will now be explained. Initially, suctionis applied to nozzles 4a via path 5, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 fromsuction source 17 as can be seen by arrows 24. Article 2 is drawn tobelt 6 and conveyed therealong in the direction of arrow 23 to conveyingchannel 7. When the article is disposed between nozzles 13a and 14a, theflow of suction air is effectively cut off as the article interrupts theflow of air between nozzles 13a and 14a. When the trailing edge of thearticle passes these nozzles, suction air is once again supplied tonozzles 4a, and the next leading article 2 is drawn to the belt forconveyance to channel 7. Therefore, it can be seen that the articleitself is used to interrupt the flow of air to prevent a subsequentpull-off until the conveyed article has passed a particular positionalong conveying path 7. This position is selected by the positioning ofnozzles 13a and 14a. It is to be noted that conveying path 7 need notinclude the pull-off belt 6 but could employ a second endless beltdisposed around a pulley so that it is positioned opposite to roller 19.

While we have described the principles of our invention in connectionwith specific apparatus, it is to be clearly understood that thisdescription is made only by way of example and not as a limitation tothe scope of our invention as set forth in the accompanying claims.

We claim:

1. Apparatus for individually pulling flat articles away from a stack ofsuch articles comprising: an article con veying system, means forapplying suction to one of the articles in the stack to draw it into theconveying system including a source of suction and means forming asuction path between said source and said article, said suction pathcrossing said conveying path and being so located at said crossing pointthat an article along said conveying path at said crossing point cutsoff the suction to the articles in the stack.

. 2. Apparatus for pulling flat articles away from a stack of sucharticles and feeding them to the conveying path of a conveying systemcomprising:

(a) guide means for guiding the first article in said stack to apredetermined position;

(b) pneumatic means disposed adjacent said predetermined position forpulling the first article off said stack and feeding it to saidconveying system;

(c) a source of suction air; and

(d) pneumatic connecting means connecting said source of suction air tosaid first article comprising means forming a pneumatic path across saidconveying path of a selected position therealong so that articlespassing said selected position will interrupt the connection of saidsource of suction air to said first article.

3. Apparatus for individually pulling flat articles away from a stack ofsuch articles and feeding them to a conveying system comprising:

(a) guide means for guiding the first article in said stack to apredetermined position;

(b) first suction nozzles disposed adjacent said predetermined position;

(c) a first perforated endless belt;

(d) means supporting said endless belt for movement along apredetermined path, said predetermined path passing between said firstsuction nozzles and said predetermined position to said conveyingsystem;

(c) a source of suction air; and a (f) means connecting said source tosaid first suction nozzles for drawing the first article in said stackto said belt for feeding said first article to said conveying systemincluding means responsive to the presence of an article at a selectedposition with respect to said conveying system for interrupting theconnection of said source of suction air to said first suction nozzles.

4. Apparatus according to claim 3 wherein said respon sive meanscomprises second and third suction nozzles,

said second suction nozzles being disposed on a first side of the pathof said conveying system and said third suction nozzles being disposedopposite to said second suction nozzles on the opposite side of saidconveying path whereby conveyed articles are disposed between saidsecond and third suction nozzles when they are at said selected positionwith respect to said conveying system.

5. Apparatus according to claim 4 wherein said connecting meanscomprises first, and second, and third chambers containing said first,second, and third suction nozzles, respectively; first tube meanspneumatically connecting said first chamber to said second chamber; andsecond tube means connecting said third chamber to said source ofsuction air.

6. Apparatus according to claim 5 wherein said first suction nozzles aredisposed on said opposite side of said conveying path.

7. Apparatus for individually pulling flat articles away from a stack ofsuch articles comprising:

v(a) first and second perforated belts;

(b) means supporting said belts to form a conveying path betweenportions of said belts;

(c) guide means guiding the leading article of said stack of fiatarticles to a first position adjacent a portion of a first side of saidfirst belt;

(d) a first set of suction nozzles disposed opposite said first positionon the other side of said first belt;

(e) a source of suction air; and

(f) pneumatic connecting means connecting said source of suction air tosaid first set of suction nozzles via a pneumatic path which crossessaid conveying path at a second position, said pneumatic path being sodimensioned and positioned that conveyed articles interrupt the flow ofsuction air to said first set of suction nozzles when they are disposedat said second position.

8. Apparatus according to claim 7 wherein said connecting meanscomprises a second set of suction nozzles disposed adjacent saidconveying path, a third set of suction nozzles disposed opposite saidsecond set of suction nozzles on the other side of said conveying pathso that the portion of said pneumatic path which crosses said conveyingpath is from said second set of suction nozzles through said perforatedbelts to said third set of suction nozzles.

9. Apparatus according to claim 8 wherein said pneumatic connectingmeans comprises first, second, and third chambers containing said first,second, and third sets of suction nozzles, respectively; first tubemeans pneumatically connecting said first chamber to said secondchamber; and second tube means connecting said third chamber to saidsource of suction air.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,166,312 1/1965Rehm 271-32 3,212,772 10/1965 Ward 27l35 X M. HENSON WOOD, JR., PrimaryExaminer.

ROBERT B. REEVES, Examiner.

A. N. KNOWLES, Assistant Examiner.

1. APPARATUS FOR INDIVIDUALLY PULLING FLAT ARTICLES AWAY FROM A STACK OF SUCH ARTICLES COMPRISING: AN ARTICLE CONVEYING SYSTEM, MEANS FOR APPLYING SUCTION TO ONE OF THE ARTICLES IN THE STACK TO DRAW IT INTO THE CONVEYING SYSTEM INCLUDING A SOURCE OF SUCTION AND MEANS FORMING A SUCTION PATH BETWEEN SAID SOURCE AND SAID ARTICLE, SAID SUCTION PATH CROSSING SAID CONVEYING PATH AND BEING SO LOCATED 